Greetings  from Fiji!

In theory, that is where this Newsletter should be being written. In fact, it is  still the middle of October and, instead of basking in the tropical heat, I am shivering in the first chill of winter. Always caught unawares by the vicissitude of the British weather, I have today come to work in a short-sleeve shirt and without my trusty "ratting jacket". I am frozen! A condition made little better by being in the throes of combating a gippy tummy. A very rare  experience as, usually, my gastric juices can cope with anything!

However, as my ever-present shadow Mungu the Ridgeback has been distinctly out of sorts  with a stomach problem, preferring to loll around the house rather than rush  around the countryside disturbing the local pheasant population, I have put my own condition down to coming out in sympathy with him.....no: we do not share a  bowl of Pedigree Chum!

At 0245 this morning all was explained! Accompanied by flashing lights and revving  engines, there was a cacophonous hammering on the door. Fortunately Justin was still about, surfing the Net or doing whatever he does at such an ungodly hour,  to receive the unlikely delivery of half a dozen bottles of spring water! Spring  water! Wine, I could perhaps understand! Pinned to this unsolicited gift was a  hastily printed notice........DO NOT DRINK THE TAP WATER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

Meanwhile, at the end of the village green, a command post was being assembled as Water  Board officials rushed hither and thither distributing their bounty. Coliform has been detected in the local reservoir, muttered a passing, bright yellow, oilskin. Coliform? Any bacterium of faecal origin which is morphologically  similar to Escherichia coli. Good heavens! No wonder Mung' and I have been feeling a little dodgy!

Whilst we await the all clear, and Hadham Spring Water sales escalate (we have already  received eighteen 2 litre bottles and it is not yet four o' clock in the afternoon!), I am mindful of the extent to which we take for granted the purity  of our drinking water. (En passant, I did admire the initiative of the local  Amway distributor who had details of their water treatment equipment through our  letterboxes by midday!). Although none has yet suffered ill effect, and Thames  Water is to be congratulated upon its vigilance, it IS worrying. Still, as far  as I know, it is not the dreaded parasite cryptosporidium, an amoeba only a few  thousandths of a millimetre in diameter which, earlier this year, cost Three  Valleys Water £3.1m in voluntary compensation to 325,000 customers who had to boil their water because health officials feared it was contaminated with  cryptosporidium.

Cryptosporidium  is very difficult to kill. The amoeba is resistant to standard chemical disinfection procedures such as chlorination. Many companies use the powerful  oxidising agent ozone to treat for the parasite but whereas some work has shown  it to be effective, other studies show it isn't. Water companies are under no statutory obligation to test for cryptosporidium and, according to The Drinking Water Inspectorate, there are no plans to recommend legislation as cryptosporidium contamination is a fairly rare occurrence. And yet several US medical publications reported an outbreak of 400,000 cases of cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee in which 100 "immuno-compromised" people died. Also research, published in the March 1996 edition of the US magazine Annals of Internal  Medicine, concluded that a cryptosporidiosis outbreak (in Clark County, Nevada)  was associated with municipal drinking water, in spite of state-of-the-art water treatment and water quality better than that required by current federal standards. This outbreak highlights the importance of surveillance for  cryptosporidiosis. Mung' and I agree! Always fascinated by the derivation of  words, I note that parasite is from the Greek parasitos, one who frequents the  tables of the rich, earning his welcome by flattery. In the animal world, it is an animal or plant subsisting at the expense of another organism. As October's  edition of National Geographic tells us....For years parasites have been  dismissed as odd sideshows in the natural world, grotesque in form and gruesome  in act....but did you know that parasites have profoundly shaped life for billions of years; many of the traits we see in plants and animals evolved in response to their presence. Parasites may have given the zebra its bold stripes, shaped the behaviour of animals from crickets to horses, even changed human  genes. Horses in the Camargue leave their creekside habitat for higher ground  during hours of peak horsefly activity; Hawaiian field crickets adjust the  timing of their mating songs to avoid attack by parasitic flies; and even the stripes of a zebra may be an adaptation for evading the blood-sucking tsetse flies which hunt visually by targetting large, dark objects. Zebras in central Africa, where tsetse flies abound, have the boldest stripes. For better or worse parasites, it seems, are not simply nabbing a free lunch, but are actively  fashioning the menu.

As the festive period fast approaches, and as a reflection on my recent experience  with water, I could not have put the question better myself....When the experts cannot agree on the benefits of drinking alcohol, what should the public think? Hardly had Professor Gerry Shaper, of London's Royal Free Hospital, suggested that most people agreed that moderate drinking was beneficial because it reduced  the risk of heart disease, than Dr. Peter Anderson, of the World Health  Organisation's lifestyles and health unit, reminded us of the negative social effects of alcohol.

First, a question or two. What is the magic ingredient which helps to prevent heart disease? Is it ethanol or some other ingredients? What is moderate drinking -  how much alcohol should be consumed to achieve the maximum benefit? Professor Arthur Klatsky, of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland, California,  says that although ethanol is the overwhelmingly important factor in reducing the risk of disease, his research suggests that wine and beer drinkers enjoy a  greater degree of protection than those who mostly drink spirits. But he also  suggests that reduced mortality in Germany - which has the highest per capita beer consumption in Europe - may be due to the non-alcoholic constituents of  beer. Polyphenols. These help to prevent the oxidation of the molecule LDL (low  density lipoprotein), which is more likely to cause cardiovascular disease in its oxidised form. However, tests show that the benefit of polyphenols may be  outweighed by the pre-oxidising effect of ethanol. The big question in this, says Professor Ian Puddey of the Department of Medicine at the Royal Perth  Hospital in Western Australia, and where the ambiguity still remains, is: how  much of these substances are absorbed from the gut and what is the balance of  effects in vivo?

Apparently,  according to Professor Michael Criqui of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, the benefit (of moderate drinking) really occurs in older individuals where there is a substantial risk of heart  disease. An individual who is fairly healthy is not at risk of heart disease so  there is no benefit in drinking alcohol. Professor Shaper makes an interesting  point though, when comparing drinkers with teetotallers.....In this country (UK)  non-drinkers are a very peculiar group of people. This group of people has a  heavy burden of disease. In middle age about half of them are ex-drinkers. The remainder are people who have never drunk at any time in their lives. The non-drinkers appear to be a poor control (for test purposes).

Among  those who see moderate drinking as beneficial, opinions about optimal intake  vary widely. About three-quarters of a pint of beer per day would seem to be the recommendation but one research paper, based on a study of 34,000 middle-aged  men from eastern France, showed a 20 per cent drop in total mortality for men  who drank the equivalent of a bottle of wine a day!

When I wrote last month's Newsletter I had not the advantage of a bottle of ALFRESCO  anti-insect moisturizer in front of me. At that time, little did I know that I was recommending the Choice of the Stars! An SOS has reached London from the Montana set of The Horse Whisperer, a screen version of Nicholas Evans's novel starring Robert Redford and Kristin Scott Thomas. The film's stars, it seems,  are being eaten to death by mosquitoes, and can barely leave their trailors. So  bad is the problem that the film's producers have called the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, having read about their mosquito expert Nigel  Hill. They wanted me to fly to America for the day to give them advice, which I  thought a bit strange. The film-makers had another request: they wanted a  natural plant-based repellent. Nigel introduced them to Sarah-Lou Reekie's Alfresco. The combination of horses and swamps is not a good one and Redford is being bitten to death. I have sent my entire stock. I should get an Oscar. By  the way, Sarah-Lou founded and grew the fashion accessories chain of her name, which she subsequently sold.

I  was delighted to welcome this week Mr. J.N. Kapoor, from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh, a most charming gentleman whose family has been connected with essential oils for more than a century. Apart from knowing that Kannauj was on the Ganges, and quite close to Lucknow, I knew little else. My education was  soon to be repaired.

Mr.  Kapoor instructed me that Shri Munshi, a poet and former governor of Uttar  Pradesh, had been prompted to remark, If you want to visit a perfumery town, visit Kannauj. It is art - it is culture and a heritage. Kannauj is to India what Grasse is to France, but with a perfumery tradition far more ancient. The history of Indian perfumes is inextricably linked to the history of Kannauj for it is here along with Jaunpur and Ghazipur that the industry took its root.  Kannauj, however, took an increasingly leading role maintained to this day as the centre for the manufacture of the entire range of Indian attars while the  former two towns concentrated on the manufacture of floral attars from Chameli  (Jasminum grandiflorum) and Gulab (Rosa damascena).

India  has a perfumery tradition that dates back over 5,000 years to the Indus valley  civilisation. In excavations at Harrappa and Mohenjadero, a water distillation still and receiver have been recovered, which confirms the advances that had been made in distilling aromatic materials. The shape of the Deg (still) and  Bhapka (receiver) are more or less the same even today. During the Gupta period in the 7th Century A.D., the use of perfumed cream bases, facial cosmetics, hair oils and eye shadows were common. There is mention of perfumery products in  ancient Pali and Islamic texts also. How Kannauj came to be a centre of perfumery is not known, but one can surmise that during the reign of Harsha  Vardhan (606-647A.D.), the most powerful ruler at that time, when Hindu art and  culture were at their zenith, the perfumery industry took hold. Situated on the banks of the Ganges, and with four other rivers close by, the area is  particularly suitable for flower growing and Khus (vetiver). A tax on Khus was imposed during Harsha Vardhan's reign and, I believe, the tradition continues  today with government imposing heavy taxation on perfumery materials. In the  past, some perfume manufacturers and traders were so powerful and influential that they were allowed to mint their own coins.

I  was most interested to discover how attars are produced. Apparently distillation  is still carried out in copper stills, as was done centuries ago. One of the  peculiar features of attar distillation is that no separate condenser is used.  The receiver, also of copper, acts as a condenser as well. The unique odour of attars is obtained by condensing vapours into the base material, mainly sandalwood. I understand that Kannauj is the largest consumer of sandalwood in  the world. Sometimes a liquid paraffin is used for the manufacture of cheaper attars and flavours. When the desired quantity of vapours have condensed, the Dighaa (a highly skilled operative) rubs a wet cloth around the body of the  still for a temporary pause in distillation and the filled receiver is replaced by another receiver. The receiver is then allowed to cool and may remain idle for one or two days depending on the pressure of work. The mixture of oil and  water is then separated either directly from the receiver through a hole at the bottom or by pouring the whole mixture into an open trough. After the oil and water have separated into two layers, the water is removed from an opening in the bottom, and goes back to the still. The base material remains in the receiver. If the desired concentration of the perfume has been reached, then this finished attar is poured into leather bottles for sedimentation and removal of moisture. Leather bottles are used for storage because they work on the  principle of osmosis. Moisture evaporates through the leather membrane leaving  behind a clear liquid.

I  then asked about the different types of attar. In addition to Chameli and Gulab,  there are Kewra (from Pandanus odoratissimus), Motia (from Jasminum sambac), Gulhina (from Lawsonia alba), and Mitti (from the baked earth of Kannauj). The pièce de résistance is Hina. While all other attars are made from a single floral/plant material, Hina is a perfume compound in the true sense. A great  many floral and herbal materials are used. Top quality Hina may contain saffron,  ambergris, musk and agarwood. It can take a month to make.

Widely used in the manufacture of Pan masala and chewing tobacco, industries which  consume nearly 80% of all attars made, attars are used medicinally to relieve  earache, bee stings and to cool (Khus) and to warm (Hina) the body. Fascinating!  I think that we may stock some.

Smell  is the sense of the imagination (Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-78, French philosopher and author of The Social Contract) stares, handwritten by the  author, from the flyleaf of the slim volume lying on my desk. Natural Housekeeping by Beverly Pagram. Normally, I would probably flick through it  without giving it another thought but, recently, I have been receiving so many  questions about the use of essential oils around the house that I thought it  prudent to delve deeper. Also, whilst I had been away in France, Jan had been involved at the launch of this book. Beverly, a highly experienced journalist,  is currently restoring her new home, a Georgian house here in the Cotswolds.

Although a little whimsical, and hinting strongly of a bygone era, I thoroughly enjoyed it. How many today have pantries, still-rooms and cellars I do not know, but this most attractively illustrated book has plenty of ideas for dealing  naturally with every household chore (wherever it be located!). A good Christmas  read for those with a more country living frame of mind.

Well that's about it for this year! As always, my sincere thanks to you, without whom I would not have the encouragement to keep penning these random jottings. Have a wonderful Christmas!

PLEASE NOTE WE WILL BE CLOSED FROM DECEMBER 24TH UNTIL JANUARY 2ND INCLUSIVE. LAST DATE FOR DESPATCH OF CHRISTMAS ORDERS BY COURIER AND/OR POST WILL BE DECEMBER 19TH. WE WILL BE AVAILABLE TO TAKE ORDERS ON DECEMBER 30TH & 31ST.

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